Amusement device



. G. MELING March 8, 1927.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed Aug. 20, 1926 :7 1 4 7d" 5 Ill/ll f 4 IV 1 lIII/ll l l A l l ATTO R N EY Patented Mar. 8,. 1927.

' UNITED STATES GUs'rAvn ,MELING, or FLUSHING, NEW. Yonx.

AMUSEMENT DEVICE.

Application filed August 20, 1926. Serial No. 130,499.

This invention relates to improvements' in amusement devices and hasparticular reference to a ball registering and return device. l

The primary object of the invention resides in a device which may eitherbe constructed on a miniature scale for use as a toy by children inconnection with which a marble maybe used, or by constructing the withtheir entrances'disposed adjacent the supportingsurface of the device,and which passages curve up to dispose their exits above theirentrances, each exit being normally" closed by a swinging door havinganumber thereon, there being different numbers on the various doors,which are normally concealed, whereupon a marble or ball passing throughthe passages with'sufiicient momentum will strike the respectivedoor,causing the same to'drop to a position to expose the number thereonand permittin the marble or ball to be thrown forward- 1n the directionfrom which it was originally propelled, the player in turn beingcredited with the amount shown on the open door.

Another object of the'inventionaims to provide an amusement device whichis simple in construction and highly amusing and entertaining to theplayers participating in 40 the use of the device.

' With these and otherobjects'in view, the invention resides in certainnovel construction and combination and arrangement of parts, theessential features of which are hereinafter fully described, areparticularly ointed out in the appended claims, and are I illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, in

which 4 Figure 1 is a perspective viewof my improved amuscment device.

Fi re 2 is a vertical sectional view on the hue 2-2-01? Figure 1. 1

Figure 3 is a detail horizontal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure2.-

Referring more particularly to the drawwalls 13. The walls 11 and 12 aredisposed the direction from ing, the reference numeral 10 designates myimproved amusement device in its entirety, and which includes a housing11 constructed of a pair of spaced walls 11 and 12, and end (30horizontally for a portion of their length and are curved upward andforward for a purpose to be presently explained. The space between thewalls 13 are divided into aligned passages 14 by spaced partitions 15,the entrances to the passages being indicated at 16, while their exitsare indicated at '17. The entrances are disposed on a level with thesupporting surface, whilethe-exits are elevated to discharge the ball ormarble 18, "7 to cause the 'same'to be thrown forward in which it wasoriginally rolled or shot. v

The exits 17 are normally closed by doors 19, hingedly connected attheir bottoms with the wall 11 as at 20, so as to cause the doors toswing downward when a push is exerted thereon from inside the passage.Each'door 19 has an angle iron or stop 21 mounted on the back of thesame which engages the wall 11 when the door is in a closed position,whereby'to hold the door in such position. The door when closed i'sswung to a position just out of vertical alignment with the axis of thehinge to prevent accidental dropping of the door. The backs of the doorhave numerals 22 of different values provided thereon, which count an eual number of points for a player whose be is res onsible for thedropping of the door. en the door is in an open position, the numbersare exposed to view and the player credited with that particularamount.

The device is supported upon a supporting surface by the wall 12, whilethe side walls 13 extend rearward to aid in supporting the device andfor preventing rocking of the same due to the peculiar shape of thehousing.

The wall 11 directly'below the axis 17 is 1 curved forward as at 23 tocause any ball or marble which may not dro clear of the device on itsreturn to roll orward when dropped thereon.

In practice, the device if used as a toy is 1 placed upon the floor orground and the players agree upon a suitable mark from which to shoot atthe device. The marble or ball 18 is shot or rolled from themarktowardthe device, it beingthe object of the player to cause the marble or ballto enter that passageway closed by the door having the highest value.The marble or ball is propelled toward the entrances of the device withsufiicient forcefto carry the same through the passageway in which itenters and out-of the exit, from where it is thrown forward in thedirection from which it was originally propelled. It will be noted thatthe marble or ball returns to the player Without requiring someone toreturn the ball to him. As the ball or marble passes out of the exit ofthe passage through which it travels, the same strikes the door of thatparticular passage causing the same to swing down, thereby exposing thenumber on the back thereof. The player is therefore credited with thatparticular number of points. The players may make such rules as they mayagree upon regarding the number of points necessaryto win a game or thenumber of balls in each game.

After aplayer has caused a door to drop,

the door is manually swung to a closed position as will be readilyappreciated.

The device when constructed on an enlarged scale might be used at theend of an alley such as a bowling alley and regular bowling balls thrownby the players with an effort of obtaining the highest score with agiven number of balls.

While I have described what I deem to be the most desirable embodimentof my invention, it is obvious that many of the details may be variedwithout many way departing from the spirit of my invention, and Itherefore do not limit myself to the exact details of constructionherein set forth nor to any thing less than the whole of my inventionlimited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is p 1. An amusement device comprising a housinghaving transversely aligned curved passages therein, the exits of whichare disposed above the entrances, and doors hingedly connected to thelower walls of the respective passages to swing. downward therefrom,numbers arranged on one side of said doors and normally concealed whensaid doors are in a closed position, means for supporting said doors inclosed'position, and a spherical member adapted to be rolled into eitherof said passages with sufficient force to carry the same therethroughwhen entering said passage through the entrance thereof, whereby tostrike the respective .door to cause the same to drop to an openposition to expose the numeral thereon, said spherical member passingout of the exit and being projected forward in the direction from whichit was originally rolled.

2. An amusement device comprising a housing having a curved passagetherein, the exit being disposed above the entrance, a spherical memberadapted to be rolled through said passage, and a door normally closingthe exit of said passage and having indicating indicia thereon andnormally concealed from view, said spherical member adapted to engagesaid door in its movement through said passage to cause the same to freethe spherical member therefrom and to expose the indicating indiciathereon.

In testimony whereof I hereby aflix my signature.

- GUSTAVE MELING.

